The Doubt Factory

Starred review from August 11, 2014
In this provocative thriller, Bacigalupi (The Drowned Cities) traces the awakening of a smart, compassionate, and privileged girl named Alix Banks to ugly realities of contemporary life, while seeking to open readers’ eyes, as well. Alix’s life is thrown into disarray when an activist group targets her family, its eyes on her father’s powerful public relations business. Moses is a charismatic black teen living off the money from a settlement with a pharmaceutical company after one of its medications killed his parents. Along with four other brilliant teens who have lost family to this sort of legal/medical maleficence, Moses hopes to enlist Alix’s help to release incriminating data from her father’s files, à la Edward Snowden. This openly didactic novel asks challenging questions about the immorality of the profit motive and capitalism, but does so within the context of a highly believable plot (backed up with references to actual front groups, lawsuits, warning labels, and literature on the subject, which will send readers to their search engines) and well-developed, multifaceted characters. Fans of Cory Doctorow’s work should love this book. Ages 15–up. Agent: Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency.

September 1, 2014
The public relations business becomes an unlikely but effective villain in this techno-thriller. High school senior Alix lives in privilege: designer labels, Caribbean vacations, elite private education. But when the mysterious activist group 2.0 targets her school, Alix learns that her father is their real objective, and soon Moses, 2.0's seductive leader, makes her doubt everything she once believed. Despite choppy, repetitive and unabashedly didactic prose, clogged with infodumps detailing the history of corporate spin, multiaward-winning Bacigalupi cranks out a suspenseful, page-turning yarn. While any caper involving such a perfectly ethnically and sexually diverse team of teenagers, all blessed with genius-level skills, is scarcely plausible, it is nevertheless praiseworthy. Alix keeps the story grounded with her thoughtfulness and integrity. Her insta-romance with Moses-creepy origins notwithstanding-feels both authentic and intense, with a sensual physicality that pushes the book firmly into the crossover category. Even though some chapters are in his viewpoint, Moses remains a chameleon, elusive and opaque; although his philosophy of "trust no one" and "test everything" is hammered home repeatedly, readers devoid of their own superteams aren't given many tools to follow through in real life.Whether readers ultimately find it passionate, preachy, inspiring or quixotic depends upon their own levels of cynicism; nonetheless, it's a book bound to provoke thought-and arguments. (Thriller. 15 & up)

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September 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Alix Banks lives a cushy life in a rich, mostly white, Connecticut suburb. She attends a prestigious private high school, is loved by her parents, and gets along with her ADHD younger brother. Her privileged world is shattered when her school is attacked by the enigmatic renegade 2.0, who appears to be stalking her. Alix's father is well connected, and soon the house is swarming with security professionals, including Alix's own personal bodyguard. But that doesn't protect her from a terrifying encounter with 2.0, whose real name is Moses Cruz, and the other members of his multicultural band of teen rebels. Moses tells Alix that her father's company, Banks Strategy Partners-otherwise known as the Doubt Factory-was the lead defense consultant for several major corporations that produced faulty drugs and other products that caused countless people to die. Alix's love for her father conflicts with her growing anxiety that Moses may be telling the truth. Is her devoted dad really a killer? Uncertainty causes Alix to do some investigating on her own and forces her to make a fateful decision. Bacigalupi's characters are clearly drawn and believable. This gripping, outstanding contemporary story cites actual cases of corporate greed, which adds realism to the plot. Suspense builds at a steady pace, leading to increasingly dramatic plot twists and a climax that will leave readers' hearts pounding. Some swearing and mention of drugs and sex make this suitable for older readers.-Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2014
Grades 9-12 Bacigalupi channels Cory Doctorow with this sorely needed thriller about the life-and-death struggle of public relations. (You read that right.) Alix doesn't give much thought to her father's PR business until a group calling itself 2.0 launches a series of large-scale pranks exposing the firm's MO of creating doubt around any science counterproductive to their drug-company clientele. From there, it's a difficult story not to spoil, as Bacigalupi withholds a lot until a midbook meeting between Alix and 2.0's leader, a magnetic truth-teller named Moses, who explains his radical motives. If it sounds preachy, remember that Bacigalupi is the guy who turned a book called Zombie Baseball Beatdown (2013) into a thought-provoking middle-grade read. There are bumps: 2.0 is the grungy, skateboarding clutch you'd expect, and their conversations can be repetitive. Still, this novel is a searing indictment. Bacigalupi, unafraid to name names, makes readers question the morality of everyday decisions, forces a consideration of duty versus family, and recommends that all of us be cynics when it comes to megaconglomerates.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Multi-award-winning Bacigalupi is becoming an indispensable voice in YA, and select author appearances and Comic-Con promotions should put this one in the limelight.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)